August 2012

August 31, 2012

Veteran defensive tackle Dwan Edwards and rookie linebacker Tank Carder are among the players cut by the Buffalo Bills on Friday.

Two people familiar with the moves confirmed that Edwards and Carder had been released, and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team has not made an announcement.

Carder was coming off an accomplished college career at TCU, where he was a two-time Mountain West Conference defensive player of the year. He also earned defensive MVP honors in the 2011 Rose Bowl after helping secure TCU’s 21-19 win over Wisconsin by breaking up a potential game-tying two-point conversion with 2 minutes left.

Carder suggested he had been cut by posting a note on his Twitter account by saying he appreciated everything the Bills had done for him thus far.

“Wasn’t the right fit,” he added. “Best of luck to the team and the organization.”

Former defensive end Tevin Elliott was indicted on three counts of sexual assault Monday by a McLennan County grand jury, according to The Baylor Lariat.

All three counts are said to involve a single victim, with two of the assault charges stemming from a single incident occurring on April 15 at a party held in the Aspen Heights Apartments.

Elliott was arrested on April 30 by the Waco Police Department after an arrest warrant had been obtained. Elliott was released on a $10,000 bond.

According to Elliott’s attorney, Jason Darling, Elliot is currently not incarcerated, but will be booked soon for the third count, which occurred in November 2009.

Elliott had been suspended by the Baylor football for violation of team policies, a decision he had begun to appeal. However, Elliot withdrew his appeal and transferred to Central Arkansas State University.

Darling said Elliott will enter a plea of not-guilty for the two April counts.

Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Billy Gillispie has been hospitalized today in Lubbock, based on multiple media reports, in the wake of an ESPN.com report about a player mutiny that could put his job status in jeopardy.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, in an online report, cited a spokesman at University Medical Center who confirmed that Gillispie was in satisfactory condition and underwent an ultrasound procedure around noon. Gillispie’s hospital stay began hours after ESPN.com reported that all nine of Tech’s remaining scholarship players went to Kirby Hocutt, the school’s athletic director, to complain about Gillispie’s mistreatment of players, citing “mind games” and marathon practices.

The Red Raiders posted an 8-23 record in Gillispie’s first season at the school, winning only one game against a Big 12 opponent. Since the season ended, six players have transferred.

In the ESPN report, Tech associate athletics director Blayne Beal said: “We are aware and are looking into concerns within the leadership of our men’s basketball program. Student-athlete well-being is our top priority and a matter that we take extremely seriously at Texas Tech. Texas Tech is devoting its full resources to look into this matter.”

CBS Sports cited an unnamed source close to Gillispie as suggesting the coach’s job could be in jeopardy. Asked if Gillispie’s job was in danger, the source replied: “This is very, very serious.”

Before taking the Tech job, Gillispie spent two seasons at Kentucky. He was fired after missing the NCAA Tournament in 2009 and accused, at that time, of behavioral problems with players. Gillispie, who entered the John Lucas After Care Program in Houston in 2009 following his third DUI arrest since 1999, earned a reputation for running tough practices while helping turn around programs at UTEP and Texas A&M before taking the job at Kentucky.

In the ESPN report, a current anonymous Tech player described Gillispie as a “good coach, teacher and mentor, but he's not the most personable person, not the coach you can go and talk to. He breaks you down. But he doesn’t build you back up. It’s hard to play for him when that happens every day. You feel like you’re getting torn down and you can’t get back up.”

Another current Tech player told ESPN: “The feeling is that some guys will leave if (Gillispie) stays, maybe some of the new guys or some of the old guys. We all have to talk to our families first.”

August 30, 2012

Notre Dame starting defensive end and former Weatherford High School standout Kapron Lewis-Moore had this tweet retweeted by ESPN's Joe Schad:

"Ireland is soo cool and the people are nice lol hahaha hope everyone is Doing well. Jet lag is kicking my butt."

Yes, Notre Dame is playing Navy in Dublin, 8 a.m. Central time Saturday on CBS (KTVT/11) to open the 125th season of Fighting Irish football.

Lewis-Moore as a fifth-year player who already has his degree (in marketing) will play a key role for the Irish defense. His senior campaign in 2011 ended after seven games because of a knee injury against USC.

He was asked by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter to comment on Notre Dame radio analyst Allen Pinkett's comments that Notre Dame would be more successful with a "few bad citizens," using Ohio State as an example of a team that used to win with "two or three guys that were criminals."

"I don't think we need to be criminals or nothing like that," Lewis-Moore said. "I think we need to be stand-up Notre Dame people. And I'm not saying Ohio State has criminals or nothing like that. I don't think being a 'bad boy' makes you a good team or not. I think we're a good team, and I think we have really good people on our team."

Notre Dame goes into Saturday's game with four players suspended, including quarterback Tommy Reese and running back Cierre Wood.

In season openers, Notre Dame is 102-16-5. Knute Rockne was 13-0 in openers; Ara Parseghian was 11-0. Irish coach Brian Kelly is 1-1 and really needs to be 2-1 after Saturday.

Update: Pinkett will not be part of the Notre Dame radio broadcast on Saturday, according to an IMG statement reported by the Chicago Tribune.

August 29, 2012

Texas sophomore cornerback Quandre Diggs is healthy following off-season wrist surgery and ready to build on an impressive freshman season.

Diggs will start at right corner when the Longhorns host Wyoming in the season opener on Saturday. He had successful left wrist surgery
on March 24 and missed the spring game on April 1. But Diggs was not limited by the injury during fall practice.

"Does not seem like it," defensive backs coach Duane Akina said on Wednesday. "I was concerned because we're a big press and man coverage team and he's a physical corner who likes to get hands-on.
That was a concern initially, but he has handled that extremely well. He's good to go and he's playing with a lot of confidence."

That's good news for the Longhorns, who will ask a lot from
Diggs again this season.

In addition to starting in the secondary, Diggs will return punts on Saturday. As a freshman, he returned nine punts for 181 yards and 19 kickoffs for 371 yards.

"We're excited that we're having a veteran returner come back," Akina said. "This year we're excited about Quandre being that principal weapon."

Missing time in the spring does not seem to have slowed Diggs' progression. The Texas coaching staff praised his awareness and high
football IQ as a freshman and expects him to take the next step in 2012.

Diggs started 11 games last season and tied a school freshman record with four interceptions, a team-high. He was named the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and was second team All-Big 12. Diggs had 51 tackles and forced two fumbles.

"I see good growth, I see a guy that has not rested on last year," Akina said. "We have challenged him with that. Quandre has answered the challenge that he had a great freshman year, he's heard about people coming back as sophomores being not as productive and he understands that."

Officials at Texas A&M and Arkansas have reached an agreement to return the teams’ annual football game to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, beginning with the 2014 season.

The agreement, announced today, extends through the 2024 season.

A&M and Arkansas met three times at the facility (2009, 2010, 2011) under a 10-year agreement to compete as non-conference opponents before A&M joined the Southeastern Conference for the 2012 season. With the Aggies’ move to the SEC, the teams’ game in College Station this season _ as well as the 2013 game at Arkansas _ were shifted to campus sites.

Both schools had expressed a desire to return the contest to Arlington once long-term SEC schedules could be tweaked to accommodate the move. In a statement, A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said returning the contest to Arlington for an extended stretch is “very advantageous for Texas A&M from a visibility and a recruiting standpoint” because of the opportunity to have an annual contest in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Loftin expressed gratitude to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for helping facilitate the date changes and hammer out the new agreement.

“We appreciate Jerry Jones and everyone in the Cowboys’ organization working with us over the past year concerning the future of the Arkansas series at Cowboys Stadium,” Loftin said. “This was a significant, unresolved issue as part of our transition to the SEC, and it was imperative for Texas A&M to play Arkansas at Kyle Field this season.”

A&M needed to play Arkansas at home in 2012 to give the Aggies a sixth game at Kyle Field as part of the team’s 12-game schedule, as well as a fourth SEC home game as part of an eight-game conference schedule.

August 28, 2012

TCU coach Gary Patterson walked over to a group of reporters after Tuesday's practice and showed just how hot it got inside the Sammy Baugh Indoor Practice Facility Tuesday afternoon. He wrung out the sweat in his soaked t-shirt, which dripped to the ground like a squeezed lime. I didn't get that on video, but I did get his intitial comments to reporters. Here's the clip:

August 27, 2012

August 23, 2012

Mitchell Traver, one of several big recruits TCU baseball signed in its 2012 class, will miss the 2013 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery next week. The right-handed pitcher from Houston Christian High School broke the news on Twitter Thursday.Traver, who's 6-foot-7, 240 pounds, was recovering from thoracic outlet surgery after first injuring his arm in the spring.